High plant diversity and slow assembly of old-growth grasslands

Scale dependency of taxonomic and functional diversity in pristine and recovered loess steppic grasslands

Widespread campaigns on forest restoration and various tree planting actions lower the awareness of the importance of grasslands for carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation. Even lower attention is given to the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in remnants of ancient, so-called pristine grasslands. Pristine grasslands generally harbour high biodiversity, and even small patches can act as important refuges for many plant and animal species in urbanised or agricultural landscapes. Spontaneous succession of grassland is frequently viewed as a cost-effective tool for grassland restoration, but its applicability is strongly dependent on many local to landscape-scale factors, and the recovery is often slow. It is therefore essential to monitor the success of grassland restoration projects that rely on spontaneous succession. We compared the species diversity and functional attributes of pristine and recovered grasslands by studying the taxonomic and functional diversity in thirteen (8 pristine and 5 recovered) loess steppic grasslands using differently sized sampling plots from 0.01 to 100 m2. Our results indicate that there are remarkable differences in taxonomic and functional diversity between pristine and recovered grasslands. We also found that during secondary succession there is a likely functional saturation of the species assembly in the first few decades of recovery, and while patterns and structure of recovered grasslands became quite similar to those of pristine grasslands, species richness and diversity still remained much lower. Pristine grasslands support considerable plant diversity, and species composition is slow to recover if destroyed by agricultural land use. This underlines the importance of preserving existing pristine grassland remnants, which might serve as sources of species for future restoration measures.

The social-ecological ladder of restoration ambition

Expanding in both scope and scale, ecosystem restoration needs to embrace complex social-ecological dynamics. To help scientists and practitioners navigate ever new demands on restoration, we propose the "social-ecological ladder of restoration ambition" as a conceptual model to approach dynamically shifting social and ecological restoration goals. The model focuses on three dynamic aspects of restoration, namely degrading processes, restoration goals and remedial actions. As these three change through time, new reinforcing and balancing feedback mechanisms characterize the restoration process. We illustrate our model through case studies in which restoration has become increasingly ambitious through time, namely forest landscape restoration in Rwanda and grassland restoration in Germany. The ladder of restoration ambition offers a new way of applying social-ecological systems thinking to ecosystem restoration. Additionally, it raises awareness of social-ecological trade-offs, power imbalances and conflicting goals in restoration projects, thereby laying an important foundation for finding more practicable and fairer solutions.

Landscape-scale predictions of future grassland conversion to cropland or development

Grassland conservation planning often focuses on high-risk landscapes, but many grassland conversion models are not designed to optimize conservation planning because they lack multidimensional risk assessments and are misaligned with ecological and conservation delivery scales. To aid grassland conservation planning, we developed landscape-scale models at relevant scales that predict future (2021-2031) total and proportional loss of unprotected grassland to cropland or development. We developed models for 20 ecoregions across the contiguous United States by relating past conversion (2011-2021) to a suite of covariates in random forest regression models and applying the models to contemporary covariates to predict future loss. Overall, grassland loss models performed well, and explanatory power varied spatially across ecoregions (total loss model: weighted group mean R2 = 0.89 [range: 0.83-0.96], root mean squared error [RMSE] = 9.29 ha [range: 2.83-22.77 ha]; proportional loss model: weighted group mean R2 = 0.74 [range: 0.64-0.87], RMSE = 0.03 [range: 0.02-0.06]). Amount of crop in the landscape and distance to cities, ethanol plants, and concentrated animal feeding operations had high variable importance in both models. Total grass loss was greater when there were moderate amounts of grass, crop, or development (∼50%) in the landscape. Proportional grass loss was greater when there was less grass (∼<30%) and more crop or development (∼>50%). Some variables had a large effect on only a subset of ecoregions, for example, grass loss was greater when ∼>70% of the landscape was enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program. Our methods provide a simple and flexible approach for developing risk layers well suited for conservation that can be extended globally. Our conversion models can support conservation planning by enabling prioritization as a function of risk that can be further optimized by incorporating biological value and cost.

Ten years of directing seeding restoration in the Brazilian savanna: Lessons learned and the way forward

Savannas and grasslands have lost almost 50% of their original cover worldwide. Therefore, the development of methods and information on open-canopy ecosystem restoration is urgent for the inclusion of these ecosystems into global and regional priorities. In the Brazilian savanna, the most diverse savanna in the world, restoration efforts focused on open ecosystems have been virtually absent, but have increased in the last 10 years. Such efforts are frequently threatened by invasive exotic grasses (IEG) that invade and dominate areas excluding native species, oftentimes aided by altered soil conditions. Long-term studies of savanna restoration trajectories are rare. In this study, we surveyed 22 savanna restoration areas established two to ten years before the study with similar restoration methods to assess their current status. We show that the current restoration methods are successful in establishing native species and allowing species turnover but they are threatened by IEG. Restoration success varies and is affected by soil conditions, IEG landscape cover and post-sowing weeding. Despite that, the simultaneous introduction of different plant functional groups allows turnover from fast to slow-growing plants. Establishing savanna native species is possible at an operational scale with current knowledge and techniques. However, native species establishment fails to prevent IEG reinfestation, which needs to be managed in restoration efforts in the Brazilian savanna.

Shifts in soil ammonia-oxidizing community maintain the nitrogen stimulation of nitrification across climatic conditions

Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) loading alters soil ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB) abundances, likely leading to substantial changes in soil nitrification. However, the factors and mechanisms determining the responses of soil AOA:AOB and nitrification to N loading are still unclear, making it difficult to predict future changes in soil nitrification. Herein, we synthesize 68 field studies around the world to evaluate the impacts of N loading on soil ammonia oxidizers and nitrification. Across a wide range of biotic and abiotic factors, climate is the most important driver of the responses of AOA:AOB to N loading. Climate does not directly affect the N-stimulation of nitrification, but does so via climate-related shifts in AOA:AOB. Specifically, climate modulates the responses of AOA:AOB to N loading by affecting soil pH, N-availability and moisture. AOB play a dominant role in affecting nitrification in dry climates, while the impacts from AOA can exceed AOB in humid climates. Together, these results suggest that climate-related shifts in soil ammonia-oxidizing community maintain the N-stimulation of nitrification, highlighting the importance of microbial community composition in mediating the responses of the soil N cycle to N loading.

Disturbance alters transience but nutrients determine equilibria during grassland succession with multiple global change drivers

Disturbance and environmental change may cause communities to converge on a steady state, diverge towards multiple alternative states or remain in long-term transience. Yet, empirical investigations of successional trajectories are rare, especially in systems experiencing multiple concurrent anthropogenic drivers of change. We examined succession in old field grassland communities subjected to disturbance and nitrogen fertilization using data from a long-term (22-year) experiment. Regardless of initial disturbance, after a decade communities converged on steady states largely determined by resource availability, where species turnover declined as communities approached dynamic equilibria. Species favoured by the disturbance were those that eventually came to dominate the highly fertilized plots. Furthermore, disturbance made successional pathways more direct revealing an important interaction effect between nutrients and disturbance as drivers of community change. Our results underscore the dynamical nature of grassland and old field succession, demonstrating how community properties such as β $$ \beta $$ diversity change through transient and equilibrium states.

Factors affecting savanna and forest regeneration in pastures across the cerrado

The Cerrado region comprises the world's most biodiverse savanna and the largest cultivated pastures for cattle in Brazil. Forty percent of these pastures are unproductive or degraded, with bare soil and native vegetation increasingly replacing exotic forage grasses. This study sought to investigate the regeneration of native vegetation in the pastures of the Cerrado and to evaluate the contribution of biophysical, land management, and landscape attributes to this process. Across the Cerrado, we analyzed pasture plant communities and the attributes of pasture management intensification, fire events, landscape native vegetation cover, and climate and soil types of 93 active pastures and 15 abandoned pastures. For the abandoned pastures, time since abandonment was an additional variable. On actively cultivated pastures, savanna regeneration varied from 0 to 70%, with a diversity of herbs and woody species. Pasture management was the main predictor of savanna regeneration on cultivated pastures. On abandoned pastures, time since abandonment was the main predictor. Exotic grass cover had a strong negative relationship with savanna regeneration and they were present even in pastures abandoned for 44 years. Our study reveals the potential of natural regeneration of the Cerrado and its particular predictors. The occurrence of pastures with high natural regeneration indicates that national policies can promote native vegetation restoration and silvopastoral systems with predictable, low cost implementation.

Pyrophilic Plants Respond to Postfire Soil Conditions in a Frequently Burned Longleaf Pine Savanna

AbstractFire-plant feedbacks engineer recurrent fires in pyrophilic ecosystems like savannas. The mechanisms sustaining these feedbacks may be related to plant adaptations that trigger rapid responses to fire's effects on soil. Plants adapted for high fire frequencies should quickly regrow, flower, and produce seeds that mature rapidly and disperse postfire. We hypothesized that the offspring of such plants would germinate and grow rapidly, responding to fire-generated changes in soil nutrients and biota. We conducted an experiment using longleaf pine savanna plants that were paired on the basis of differences in reproduction and survival under annual ("more" pyrophilic) versus less frequent ("less" pyrophilic) fire regimes. Seeds were planted in different soil inoculations from experimental fires of varying severity. The more pyrophilic species displayed high germination rates followed by species-specific rapid growth responses to soil location and fire severity effects on soils. In contrast, the less pyrophilic species had lower germination rates that were not responsive to soil treatments. This suggests that rapid germination and growth constitute adaptations to frequent fires and that plants respond differently to fire severity effects on soil abiotic factors and microbes. Furthermore, variable plant responses to postfire soils may influence plant community diversity and fire-fuel feedbacks in pyrophilic ecosystems.

Long-term, large-scale experiment reveals the effects of seed limitation, climate, and anthropogenic disturbance on restoration of plant communities in a biodiversity hotspot

Ecological restoration is essential for maintaining biodiversity in the face of dynamic, global changes in climate, human land use, and disturbance regimes. Effective restoration requires understanding bottlenecks in plant community recovery that exist today, while recognizing that these bottlenecks may relate to complex histories of environmental change. Such understanding has been a challenge because few long-term, well-replicated experiments exist to decipher the demographic processes influencing recovery for numerous species against the backdrop of multiyear variation in climate and management. We address this challenge through a long-term and geographically expansive experiment in longleaf pine savannas, an imperiled ecosystem and biodiversity hotspot in the southeastern United States. Using 48 sites at three locations spanning 480 km, the 8-y experiment manipulated initial seed arrival for 24 herbaceous plant species and presence of competitors to evaluate the impacts of climate variability and management actions (e.g., prescribed burning) on plant establishment and persistence. Adding seeds increased plant establishment of many species. Cool and wet climatic conditions, low tree density, and reduced litter depth also promoted establishment. Once established, most species persisted for the duration of the 8-y experiment. Plant traits were most predictive when tightly coupled to the process of establishment. Our results illustrate how seed additions can restore plant diversity and how interannual climatic variation affects the dynamics of plant communities across a large region. The significant effects of temperature and precipitation inform how future climate may affect restoration and conservation via large-scale changes in the fundamental processes of establishment and persistence.

Foundation plant species provide resilience and microclimatic heterogeneity in drylands

Climate change profoundly influences plants and animals in all ecosystems including drylands such as semi-arid and arid scrublands and grasslands. At the peak of an extended megadrought in the Southwestern USA, the microclimatic refuges provided by foundation plant species and through associated vegetation were examined. Shrubs and open interstitial spaces without a canopy but with annual plants were instrumented in 2016 and the wet season of 2017 in the central drylands of California. In both years and all seasons tested, vegetation significantly mediated fine-scale near-surface air temperature and relative soil moisture content-defined here as microclimate. The foundation species with other vegetation provided the most significant thermal refuge potential capacity for other plants and animals, but there was variation by growing season. Soil moisture content was frequently increased by the direct canopy effects of shrubs. This evidence suggests that the climate many plants and animals experience, even during an extended megadrought, is mediated by the local plants in highly impacted drylands with anthropogenic disturbance and significant water-induced challenges. Foundation species such as shrubs in drylands function as a potent starting point in examining the ecological relevance of climate at scales germane to many species locally. An ecological framework for climate resilience using shrubs will improve conservation and restoration planning in drylands.

A Flashforward Look into Solutions for Fruit and Vegetable Production

One of the most important challenges facing current and future generations is how climate change and continuous population growth adversely affect food security. To address this, the food system needs a complete transformation where more is produced in non-optimal and space-limited areas while reducing negative environmental impacts. Fruits and vegetables, essential for human health, are high-value-added crops, which are grown in both greenhouses and open field environments. Here, we review potential practices to reduce the impact of climate variation and ecosystem damages on fruit and vegetable crop yield, as well as highlight current bottlenecks for indoor and outdoor agrosystems. To obtain sustainability, high-tech greenhouses are increasingly important and biotechnological means are becoming instrumental in designing the crops of tomorrow. We discuss key traits that need to be studied to improve agrosystem sustainability and fruit yield.

Encroachment diminishes herbaceous plant diversity in grassy ecosystems worldwide

Woody encroachment is ubiquitous in grassy ecosystems worldwide, but its global impacts on the diversity of herbaceous plants that characterise and define these ecosystems remain unquantified. The pervasiveness of encroachment is relatively easily observed via remote sensing, but its impacts on plant diversity and richness below the canopy can only be observed via field-based studies. Via a meta-analysis of 42 field studies across tropical to temperate grassy ecosystems, we quantified how encroachment altered herbaceous species richness, and the richness of forbs, C₃ graminoids and C₄ graminoids. Across studies, the natural logarithm of the response ratio (lnRR) of herbaceous species richness ranged from -3.33 to 0.34 with 87% of encroached ecosystems negatively impacted. Assessment of the extent of encroachment, duration of encroachment, mean annual rainfall, latitude, and continent demonstrated that only extent of encroachment had relevance in the data (univariate model including a random effect of study explained 45.4% of variance). The global weighted mean lnRR of species richness decreased from -0.245 at <33% of woody cover increase, to -0.562 at 33%-66%, and to -0.962 at >66%. Continued encroachment results in substantial loss of herbaceous diversity at medium and high extents, with a loss of richness that is not replaced. Although all functional groups are significantly negatively impacted by encroachment, forb richness is relatively more sensitive than graminoid richness, and C₄ graminoid richness relatively more than C₃ graminoid richness. Although no geographic or climatic correlates had relevance in the data, encroachment as an emergent product of global change coalesces to decrease ground layer light availability, lead to loss of fire and grazers, and alter hydrology and soils. Encroachment is accelerating and grassy ecosystems require urgent attention to determine critical woody cover thresholds that facilitate diverse and resilient grassy ecosystems.

Encroachment diminishes herbaceous plant diversity in grassy ecosystems worldwide

Woody encroachment is ubiquitous in grassy ecosystems worldwide, but its global impacts on the diversity of herbaceous plants that characterise and define these ecosystems remain unquantified. The pervasiveness of encroachment is relatively easily observed via remote sensing, but its impacts on plant diversity and richness below the canopy can only be observed via field-based studies. Via a meta-analysis of 42 field studies across tropical to temperate grassy ecosystems, we quantified how encroachment altered herbaceous species richness, and the richness of forbs, C₃ graminoids and C₄ graminoids. Across studies, the natural logarithm of the response ratio (lnRR) of herbaceous species richness ranged from -3.33 to 0.34 with 87% of encroached ecosystems negatively impacted. Assessment of the extent of encroachment, duration of encroachment, mean annual rainfall, latitude, and continent demonstrated that only extent of encroachment had relevance in the data (univariate model including a random effect of study explained 45.4% of variance). The global weighted mean lnRR of species richness decreased from -0.245 at <33% of woody cover increase, to -0.562 at 33%-66%, and to -0.962 at >66%. Continued encroachment results in substantial loss of herbaceous diversity at medium and high extents, with a loss of richness that is not replaced. Although all functional groups are significantly negatively impacted by encroachment, forb richness is relatively more sensitive than graminoid richness, and C₄ graminoid richness relatively more than C₃ graminoid richness. Although no geographic or climatic correlates had relevance in the data, encroachment as an emergent product of global change coalesces to decrease ground layer light availability, lead to loss of fire and grazers, and alter hydrology and soils. Encroachment is accelerating and grassy ecosystems require urgent attention to determine critical woody cover thresholds that facilitate diverse and resilient grassy ecosystems.

Ancient grasslands guide ambitious goals in grassland restoration

Grasslands, which constitute almost 40% of the terrestrial biosphere, provide habitat for a great diversity of animals and plants and contribute to the livelihoods of more than 1 billion people worldwide. Whereas the destruction and degradation of grasslands can occur rapidly, recent work indicates that complete recovery of biodiversity and essential functions occurs slowly or not at all. Grassland restoration-interventions to speed or guide this recovery-has received less attention than restoration of forested ecosystems, often due to the prevailing assumption that grasslands are recently formed habitats that can reassemble quickly. Viewing grassland restoration as long-term assembly toward old-growth endpoints, with appreciation of feedbacks and threshold shifts, will be crucial for recognizing when and how restoration can guide recovery of this globally important ecosystem.

Six years of wild bee monitoring shows changes in biodiversity within and across years and declines in abundance

Wild bees form diverse communities that pollinate plants in both native and agricultural ecosystems making them both ecologically and economically important. The growing evidence of bee declines has sparked increased interest in monitoring bee community and population dynamics using standardized methods. Here, we studied the dynamics of bee biodiversity within and across years by monitoring wild bees adjacent to four apple orchard locations in Southern Pennsylvania, USA. We collected bees using passive Blue Vane traps continuously from April to October for 6 years (2014-2019) amassing over 26,000 bees representing 144 species. We quantified total abundance, richness, diversity, composition, and phylogenetic structure. There were large seasonal changes in all measures of biodiversity with month explaining an average of 72% of the variation in our models. Changes over time were less dramatic with years explaining an average of 44% of the variation in biodiversity metrics. We found declines in all measures of biodiversity especially in the last 3 years, though additional years of sampling are needed to say if changes over time are part of a larger trend. Analyses of population dynamics over time for the 40 most abundant species indicate that about one third of species showed at least some evidence for declines in abundance. Bee family explained variation in species-level seasonal patterns but we found no consistent family-level patterns in declines, though bumble bees and sweat bees were groups that declined the most. Overall, our results show that season-wide standardized sampling across multiple years can reveal nuanced patterns in bee biodiversity, phenological patterns of bees, and population trends over time of many co-occurring species. These datasets could be used to quantify the relative effects that different aspects of environmental change have on bee communities and to help identify species of conservation concern.

Rural land abandonment is too ephemeral to provide major benefits for biodiversity and climate

Hundreds of millions of hectares of cropland have been abandoned globally since 1950 due to demographic, economic, and environmental changes. This abandonment has been seen as an important opportunity for carbon sequestration and habitat restoration; yet those benefits depend on the persistence of abandonment, which is poorly known. Here, we track abandonment and recultivation at 11 sites across four continents using annual land-cover maps for 1987-2017. We find that abandonment is largely fleeting, lasting on average only 14.22 years (SD = 1.44). At most sites, we project that >50% of abandoned croplands will be recultivated within 30 years, precluding the accumulation of substantial amounts of carbon and biodiversity. Recultivation resulted in 30.84% less abandonment and 35.39% less carbon accumulated by 2017 than expected without recultivation. Unless policymakers take steps to reduce recultivation or provide incentives for regeneration, abandonment will remain a missed opportunity to reduce biodiversity loss and climate change.

Characteristics of Plant Community and Its Relationship with Groundwater Depth of the Desert Riparian Zone in the Lower Reaches of the Ugan River, Northwest China

The vegetation in the desert riparian zone represents a critical barrier in the maintenance of the ecosystem’s balance. However, in recent years, the vegetation degradation of the riparian zone has seriously hindered economic development and ecological environment conservation. Based on a field investigation and literature, the mechanisms of vegetation degradation in the lower reaches of the Ugan River are discussed in this study through the analysis of plant coverage, diversity, substitution rate, distribution pattern, grey correlation analysis, and the relationship with groundwater depth. The results showed that the vegetation coverage in this region is relatively low when the water depth exceeds 4 m. Furthermore, the Shannon–Wiener index, the Simpson index, and the Pielou index all decreased with increases in water depth. Woody plants are the main species maintaining the ecological balance of the region with an aggregation distribution pattern. The degradation of vegetation is the result of the lack of water sources and the intense water consumption caused by human activities (especially agricultural). To promote ecological balance and vegetation restoration, the relative optimal water depth range should be maintained within 2 to 5 m as well as proper control of human activities. In addition, the degraded vegetation can gradually be restored using point and surface (i.e., flowering in the center and spreading to the surrounding areas). The results can provide a scientific basis for vegetation restoration and ecological conservation in the lower reaches of China’s Ugan River.

A classification of cultivated pastures in the Brazilian Cerrado for sustainable intensification and savanna restoration

The Brazilian Cerrado, with over 200 million hectares, has approximately 28% of its area occupied by cultivated pasturelands and 39% of them are degraded. In this study, we propose a new classification of the Cerrado pastures and recommendations for sustainable intensification and savanna restoration. We propose seven classes of pastures based on the ground cover proportions of exotic grass, bare soil, and native vegetation. These lands need to be acknowledged for their biodiversity conservation and potential for sustainable intensification and restoration. In order to make ecological intensification available for the ranchers, research and technology transfer have to embrace native tree species-based silviculture, native-grass-based forage management and enhancement, and value chain of biodiversity-friendly products. The pasture management proposals of this paper are based on a concept of biodiversity as an ecosystem service, promoting local productivity and global ecosystem services.

Fire exclusion changes belowground bud bank and bud-bearing organ composition jeopardizing open savanna resilience

Belowground bud bank regeneration is a successful strategy for plants in fire-prone communities. It depends on the number and location of dormant and viable buds stored on belowground organs. A highly diverse belowground bud-bearing organ system maintained by a frequent interval of fire events guarantees the supply of a bud bank that enables plants to persist and resprout after disturbance. We investigated how different fire exclusion and fire frequencies, affected the herbaceous layer in tropical savannas, by assessing belowground persistence and regeneration traits. Contrary to our hypothesis, we found that under a shorter fire exclusion period, the total bud bank increased at a lower fire frequency. But sites at longer fire exclusion and infrequent fire, the bud bank was smaller the longer the period since the last fire. However, the major shift was concerning organ diversity since fire exclusion was more related to loss of belowground diversity rather than decreasing of the belowground bud bank size. Furthermore, fire-associated bud-bearing structures like xylopodia disappeared in the fire suppressed areas, whereas clonal organs, such as rhizomes, developed in the bud bank. By quantifying belowground bud bank traits under different fire histories, we highlight the importance of the local fire regime on the composition of the belowground plant components, which can affect the tropical savanna aboveground plant community. Given that, loss of the belowground bud-bearing component of the plant community will have a direct effect on vegetation regeneration in post-fire environments, and consequently, on plant community resilience.

Pine savanna restoration on agricultural landscapes: The path back to native savanna ecosystem services

Restoration of savanna ecosystems within their historic range is expected to increase provision of ecosystem services to resident human populations. However, the benefits of restoration depend on the degree to which ecosystems and their services can be restored, the rate of restoration of particular services, and tradeoffs in services between restored ecosystems and other common land uses. We use a chronosequence approach to infer multi-decadal changes in ecosystem services under management aimed at restoring fire-dependent pine savannas, including the use of frequent prescribed fire, following abandonment of row-crop agriculture in the southeastern U.S. We compare ecosystem services between restored pine savannas of different ages and reference pine savannas as well as other common land uses (row-crop agriculture, improved pasture, pine plantation, unmanaged forest). Our results suggest that restoring pine savannas results in many improvements to ecosystem services, including increases in plant species richness, perennial grass cover, tree biomass, total ecosystem carbon, soil carbon and C:N, reductions in soil bulk density and predicted erosion and sedimentation, shifts from soil fungal pathogens to fungal symbionts, and changes in soil chemistry toward reference pine savanna conditions. However, the rate of improvement varies widely among services from a few years to decades. Compared to row-crop agriculture and improved pasture, restored savannas have lower erosion, soil bulk density, and soil pathogens and a higher percentage of mycorrhizal fungi and ecosystem carbon storage. Compared to pine plantations and unmanaged forests, restored pine savannas have lower fire-prone fuel loads and higher water yield and bee pollinator abundance. Our results indicate that restoration of pine savanna using frequent fire provides a broad suite of ecosystem services that increase the landscape's overall resilience to climate change. These results are likely relevant to other savannas dominated by perennial vegetation and maintained with frequent fire.

Ecological Grassland Restoration—A South African Perspective

The principal drivers of Grassland Biome conversion and degradation in South Africa include agricultural intensification, plantation forestry, urban expansion and mining, together with invasive non-native plants and insidious rural sprawl. This biome is poorly conserved and in dire need of restoration, an ecologically centred practice gaining increasing traction given its wide application to people and biodiversity in this emerging culture of renewal. The pioneering proponent of restoration in South Africa is the mining industry, primarily to restore surface stability using vegetation cover. We noticed a historical progression from production-focussed non-native pastures to more diverse suites of native species and habitats in the restoration landscape. This paradigm shift towards the proactive “biodiversity approach” necessitates assisted natural regeneration, mainly through revegetation with grasses, using plugs, sods and/or seeds, together with long-lived perennial forbs. We discuss key management interventions such as ongoing control of invasive non-native plants, the merits of fire and grazing, and the deleterious impacts of fertilisers. We also highlight areas of research requiring further investigation. The “biodiversity approach” has limitations and is best suited to restoring ecological processes rather than attempting to match the original pristine state. We advocate conserving intact grassland ecosystems as the key strategy for protecting grassland biodiversity, including small patches with disproportionately high biodiversity conservation value.

Drivers and constraints of land use transitions on Western grasslands: insights from a California mountain ranching community

CONTEXT

Land use change drives a host of sustainability challenges on Earth's grasslands. To understand the relationship between changing land use patterns, human well-being, and ecosystem services, research is needed into land use transitions on privately-owned grasslands. Such inquiry lies at the intersection of land system science, landscape sustainability science and environmental governance.

OBJECTIVES

This study investigated land use change in a mountain ranching community in the Sierra Nevada, California. The research objective was to highlight factors influencing land use transitions and corollary ecological outcomes on privately-owned grasslands in the Western US.

METHODS

This mixed methods case study integrated participant observation, 30 semi-structured interviews, and analysis of land cover and real estate data. Interviews were conducted with ranchers, public agencies, and conservation and real estate industry representatives, and analyzed with the constant comparison method using NVivo 12.

RESULTS

Land use transitions in the case study region include agricultural intensification, residential and solar development, and disintensification. These transitions were influenced by many factors including decreasing land access and water availability, amenity migration, intergenerational succession, and conservation policy.

CONCLUSIONS

By highlighting factors influencing land use transitions on working lands, this study can be applied to improve the uptake of environmental policies. For the future, several approaches may support grasslands conservation: ensuring grazing lands access, income diversification, groundwater regulations, agriculture-compatible conservation easements, and land use policies supporting ownership transition to amenity purposes rather than low-density residential development.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10980-021-01385-6.

Post-restoration grassland management overrides the effects of restoration methods in propagule-rich landscapes

Grassland restoration is gaining momentum worldwide to tackle the loss of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. Restoration methods and their effects on ecological community reassembly have been extensively studied across various grassland types, while the importance of post-restoration management has so far received less attention. Grassland management is an important surrogate for natural disturbances, with which most ancient grasslands have coevolved. Thus, without the reintroduction of management-related disturbance, restoration targets are unlikely to be achieved in restored grasslands. In this study, we aimed to explore how 20 yr of management by mowing once a year or light cattle grazing affects restoration success in Palearctic meadow-steppe grasslands restored by either sowing native grasses (sown sites), applying Medicago sativa as a nurse plant (Medicago sites), or allowing spontaneous succession (spontaneous sites). We found that, following mowing, sown sites maintained long-lasting establishment limitation, while Medicago sites experienced a delay in succession. These limitations resulted in low total and target species richness, low functional redundancy, and distinct species and functional composition compared to reference data from ancient grasslands. Spontaneous sites that were mowed reached a more advanced successional stage, although they did not reach reference levels regarding most vegetation descriptors. Sown and Medicago sites that were grazed had higher total and target species richness than those that were mowed, and showed restoration success similar to that of spontaneous sites, on which grazing had only moderate further positive effects. Grazed sites, irrespective of the restoration method, were uniformly species rich, functionally diverse, and functionally redundant, and thus became important biodiverse habitats with considerable resilience. We conclude that an optimally chosen post-restoration management may have an impact on long-term community reassembly comparable to the choice of restoration method. Restoration planners may, therefore, need to put more emphasis on future management than on the initial restoration method. However, our findings also imply that if local constraints, such as potentially high invasive propagule pressure, necessitate the application of restoration methods that could also hinder the establishment of target species, the long-term recovery of the grassland can still be ensured by wisely chosen post-restoration management.

Identifying managerial legacies within conservation corridors using remote sensing and grasshoppers as bioindicators

Biodiversity conservation under global change requires effective management of key biodiversity areas, even areas not under formal protection. Natural grassland conservation corridors between plantation forests are such areas, as they improve landscape connectivity, mitigate the impact of landscape fragmentation, and conserve biodiversity. However, empirical evidence is required to identify the extent to which past management actions promote effectiveness of conservation corridors into the future. We address this issue using grasshoppers, which are well-established indicators of habitat quality. In particular, we assess grasshopper response within corridors to historic grassland photosynthetic activity using a 25-yr normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series. We then use vegetation characteristics measured in the field to understand the potential mechanisms driving grasshopper response. Furthermore, we explore the efficacy of satellite remote sensing for monitoring grasshopper habitat using additive models. We found that grasshopper evenness responded positively to deviation in NDVI within a 3-yr period, whereas assemblage composition responded positively over a shorter time of two years. Grasshopper richness and evenness responded strongly to the local vegetation height and bare ground, whereas grasshopper assemblage composition also responded to plant species richness. We found a major negative impact of the invasive alien bramble (Rubus cuneifolius) on large-sized grasshoppers and species of conservation concern. Overall, the results illustrate the importance of maintaining primary high-quality habitat for maintaining grasshopper diversity, alongside removal of invasive bramble. We recommend prescribed burning to maintain high-quality habitat heterogeneity, with sites burned within three years. Furthermore, high-resolution satellite imagery is effective for monitoring grasshopper richness and assemblage composition response to changes in vegetation within the corridors. Grassland conservation corridors do conserve biodiversity, although effective management and monitoring needs to be in place to ensure biodiversity resembles that of neighbouring protected areas.

Poor relationships between NEON Airborne Observation Platform data and field-based vegetation traits at a mesic grassland

Understanding spatial and temporal variation in plant traits is needed to accurately predict how communities and ecosystems will respond to global change. The National Observatory Ecological Network (NEON) Airborne Observation Platform (AOP) provides hyperspectral images and associated data products at numerous field sites at 1 m spatial resolution, potentially allowing high-resolution trait mapping. We tested the accuracy of NEON's readily available AOP derived data products - Leaf Area Index, Total biomass, Ecosystem structure (Canopy height model; CHM), and Canopy Nitrogen by comparing them to spatially extensive field measurements from a mesic tallgrass prairie. Correlations with AOP data products exhibited generally weak or no relationships with corresponding field measurements. The strongest relationships were between AOP LAI and ground-measured LAI (r = 0.32) and AOP Total biomass and ground-measured biomass (r = 0.23). We also examined how well the full reflectance spectra (380-2500 nm), as opposed to derived products, could predict vegetation traits using partial least-squares regression models. Only one of the eight traits examined, Nitrogen, had a validation R² of more than 0.25. For all vegetation traits, validation R² ranged from 0.08-0.29 and the root mean square error of prediction ranged from 14-64%. Our results suggest that currently available AOP derived data products should not be used without extensive ground-based validation. Relationships using the full reflectance spectra may be more promising, although careful consideration of field and AOP data mismatches in space and/or time, biases in field-based measurements or AOP algorithms, and model uncertainty are needed. Finally, grassland sites may be especially challenging for airborne spectroscopy because of their high species diversity within a small area, mixed functional types of plant communities, and heterogenous mosaics of disturbance and resource availability. Remote sensing observations are one of the most promising approaches to understanding ecological patterns across space and time, yet the opportunity to engage a diverse community of NEON data users will depend on establishing rigorous links with in-situ field measurements across a diversity of sites.

Post-release Movement Behaviour and Survival of Kulan Reintroduced to the Steppes and Deserts of Central Kazakhstan

Asiatic wild ass, or kulan (Equus hemionus kulan) were once a key species of the Eurasian steppes and deserts. In Kazakhstan they went extinct by the 1930s. Early reintroductions have reestablished the species in two protected areas, but the species has reclaimed &lt;1% of their former range and remained absent from central Kazakhstan. To initiate restoration in this vast region, we captured and transported a first group of nine wild kulan to a large pre-release enclosure in the Torgai region in 2017, and two more in 2019. We used direct observations and post-release movement data of four kulan equipped with GPS-Iridium collars to document their adaptation process in a vast novel habitat without conspecifics. For comparison with movements in the source populations, we additionally equipped two kulan in Altyn Emel National Park and six in Barsa Kelmes State Nature Reserve. The nine transported kulan formed a cohesive group with very high movement correlation in the enclosure. After release, the group initially stayed tightly together but started to break up by mid-May and all kulan travelled independently by mid-August. With 48,680–136,953 km2, the 95% Autocorrelated Kernel Density Estimation ranges of the reintroduced kulan were huge and about 10–100 times larger than those in the source populations. The reintroduced mares never reconnected, there was no evidence of successful reproduction, and two of the four collared mares were killed by poachers and one died of natural causes. At least one stallion survived in the wild, but the fate of the other uncollared animals remains unclear. We speculate that the fission-fusion dynamics and low movement correlation of kulan societies and the need for migratory movements harbours the risk that animals released into a novel environment loose contact with each other. This risk is likely enhanced in steppe habitats where movement constraining factors are absent. Further kulan reintroductions to the steppes and deserts of central Kazakhstan should aim to release larger groups and build up the free-ranging population quickly to reach a critical mass, increasing the chance of kulan encountering conspecifics to successfully breed and increase their chances of survival.

Convergent acoustic community structure in South Asian dry and wet grassland birds

Although the study of bird acoustic communities has great potential in long-term monitoring and conservation, their assembly and dynamics remain poorly understood. Grassland habitats in South Asia comprise distinct biomes with unique avifauna, presenting an opportunity to address how community-level patterns in acoustic signal space arise. Similarity in signal space of different grassland bird assemblages may result from phylogenetic similarity, or because different bird groups partition the acoustic resource, resulting in convergent distributions in signal space. Here, we quantify the composition, signal space and phylogenetic diversity of bird acoustic communities from dry semiarid grasslands of northwest India and wet floodplain grasslands of northeast India, two major South Asian grassland biomes. We find that acoustic communities occupying these distinct biomes exhibit convergent, overdispersed distributions in signal space. However, dry grasslands exhibit higher phylogenetic diversity, and the two communities are not phylogenetically similar. The Sylvioidea encompasses half the species in the wet grassland acoustic community, with an expanded signal space compared to the dry grasslands. We therefore hypothesize that different clades colonizing grasslands partition the acoustic resource, resulting in convergent community structure across biomes. Many of these birds are threatened, and acoustic monitoring will support conservation measures in these imperiled, poorly-studied habitats.

This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.

Summary: Acoustic communities of different grassland biomes exhibit convergent signal space in spite of dissimilar species compositions.

OCBIL theory: a new science for old ecosystems

This paper is an introduction to the special issue of the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society entitled OCBIL theory: a new science for old ecosystems. Firstly, we elaborate on the origins and development of OCBIL theory, which argues that landscape age, climatic buffering and soil fertility are key environmental dimensions shaping ecological and evolutionary processes across different scales. We then consider the 21 contributions made in this special issue in terms of cutting edge advances in the Southern Hemisphere that test, explore and apply aspects of OCBIL theory at the end of its first decade of formal publication. More attempts at refutation are urged, as untested aspects remain controversial. Lastly, a concluding discussion is offered on promising new lines of enquiry to develop the theory further and ensure its global application to pressing conservation issues facing biological and cultural diversity. Although OCBILs are absent or rare in much of the postglacial and periglacial Northern Hemisphere, we demonstrate, in south-west Europe and North America, starting with California, that they are likely to be found, thus extending the implications and applications of OCBIL theory in new directions. We also propose that, in many ways, Noongar Aboriginal cosmology from south-west Australia has developed sophisticated insights about ancient uplands that are precursors to key ideas in OCBIL theory.

OCBIL theory examined: reassessing evolution, ecology and conservation in the world’s ancient, climatically buffered and infertile landscapes

OCBIL theory was introduced as a contribution towards understanding the evolution, ecology and conservation of the biological and cultural diversity of old, climatically buffered, infertile landscapes (OCBILs), especially in the Southern Hemisphere. The theory addresses some of the most intransigent environmental and cultural trends of our time – the ongoing decline of biodiversity and cultural diversity of First Nations. Here we reflect on OCBILs, the origins of the theory, and its principal hypotheses in biological, anthropological and conservation applications. The discovery that threatened plant species are concentrated in the Southwest Australian Floristic Region (SWAFR) on infertile, phosphorous-impoverished uplands within 500 km of the coast formed the foundational framework for OCBIL theory and led to the development of testable hypotheses that a growing literature is addressing. Currently, OCBILs are recognized in 15 Global Biodiversity Hotspots and eight other regions. The SWAFR, Greater Cape Floristic Region of South Africa and South America’s campos rupestres (montane grasslands) are those regions that have most comprehensively been investigated in the context of OCBIL theory. We summarize 12 evolutionary, ecological and cultural hypotheses and ten conservation-management hypotheses being investigated as recent contributions to the OCBIL literature.

Functional trait coordination in the ancient and nutrient-impoverished campo rupestre: soil properties drive stem, leaf and architectural traits

Old, climatically buffered and infertile landscapes (OCBILs) are remarkably species-diverse, but the assembly of their ecological communities is largely unknown. Our goal was to understand how edaphic filters drive the functional structure of plant communities in an ancient and nutrient-impoverished ecosystem. We carried out a functional screening across four types of campo rupestre habitats with different edaphic conditions. We investigated trait–soil relationships for ironstone and quartzitic substrate to obtain the optimal trait values of each condition. In addition, we built unipartite networks to explore trait–trait relationships to assess functional coordination among organs. Lower soil pH and less soil water retention potential increased the proportion of smaller leaves, tissue dry mass and tissue density, resulting in more resource-conservative plant species and communities. Trait functions were tightly correlated among organs at both the plot and the individual level, indicating a trend of phenotypic integration. Architectural traits were central to coordination, suggesting their key role in integrating sap transport, mechanical support and leaf display. We conclude that the trait adjustments in response to soil parameters are important for the coexistence of a large number of species in the campo rupestre ecosystem.